The NBA has disciplined Kevin Durant for a vulgar remark that he made towards a fan in Dallas, ESPN reports in its coverage of the league’s response to his behavior this past weekend.
Much of the talk that has been buzzing about the Golden State Warriors — following their 112-109 loss to the Mavericks on Saturday, November 17 — has centered around fears that they may be imploding from all of the infighting that has reportedly been going on inside of the locker room. But a video clip that was published by Yahoo! Sports , which has since gone viral, showing KD dropping the “F-bomb” on a court-side ticket holder during the Mavs contest has grabbed its own share of headlines. It has also subsequently led to all the more chatter about the team’s vulnerability heading into December.
If there were ever any indication that the Warriors have descended into crisis mode in the midst of dropping four out of their last five games, it came more than an hour before Durant missed a floater in the paint with his team down by one point — and just under 25 seconds remaining on the clock. There had apparently been taunts coming from an attendee seated behind one of the baselines, and at one point during the first quarter, KD became so taken aback by the distraction that he finally decided to walk over and address the heckler in the most matter of fact manner.
“Don’t act like that, alright? Watch the f**king game and shut the f**k up,” Durant could be heard saying in a cellphone recording that captured the exchange. The clip then closes with several fans standing to their feet and decrying his choice of language.
— SLAM (@SLAMonline) November 20, 2018
On top of overcoming the pressure that comes with being a defending champion forced to overcome a three game losing streak, Durant will have to contend with the history that lingers from him leaving Oklahoma City, when he leads the fourth place Warriors against the Thunder in their midweek match-up at Oracle Arena. Coupled with the fact that he is coming off of the latest of what has been a career of petty outbursts, the trolls are most definitely out to get under KD’s skin by flooding social media with the “cupcake” slight that TMZ sources suggest the fan in question poked at him with three days ago.
As SB Nation has recalled, Durant has occasionally been tagged with the “cupcake” moniker since Russell Westbrook saw him off with a cupcake tweet following his sudden departure from OKC. More than two years later it seems to still get him every time, this time costing him $25,000 per the league’s front office.
